BELLEVUE, WA, WASHINGTON -- I enrolled for a membership for LA Fitness Bellevue, WA a month ago and a training manager approached me and offered me a free training. After he finished the free training he offered me a paid training showing me one sheet of paper including information on different number of trainings per month with different pricing. When I asked him if I can try and cancel it after a month, he told me that I can definitely do that.

Since I enrolled for LA Fitness membership also as a month to month thinking that I can try for a month and I can cancel if I don't like it, I signed electronically on the signing pad attached to his PC. He did not showed me the computer screen for the contract or any printed contract and he just let me sign on the signing pad attached to his PC. After I enrolled for the paid training, LA Fitness Bellevue could not deliver any acceptable training services to me.

The trainers did not show up at the scheduled time most of times and one trainer even did not show up at all and after waiting for more than 30 minutes. Someone told me that he quit LA Fitness Bellevue during the weekend. And he is not available anymore and they don't have any other trainers to do the training to me for me. So I could not get any training after wasting my time for almost an hour. After experiencing all the problems of the training service of LA Fitness for a month I visited them today and wanted to cancel my training and surprisingly the General Manager of LA Fitness Bellevue told me that I cannot cancel it since it is under one year term contract.

I told him that the training manager who sold me the training contract advised me that this is month to month contract while he let me sign through signing pad attached to his PC without showing me any contract to me. And the training service quality has been far from being acceptable. And I need to cancel the training service. He became very upset after hearing this from me and he only kept on saying that I need to keep on paying the monthly training fee for one year with whatever services they are giving to me.

After that he told me that he did not wanted to speak with me when I tried to explain the problems of the training contract sales and the training services more in details. When I asked him if he does not want to speak with me I want to speak with his manager, he told me that he is the highest positioned person at LA Fitness Bellevue. And there is no one that I can speak and then he just disappeared leaving me alone. I think this were really unacceptable experiences that I got from LA Fitness Bellevue and wanted to share the information with everyone.

The sales for the training contract was a scam; the trainers cancelled the training without notice and were normally late for the training and most of all the General Manager of LA Fitness Bellevue did not wanted to speak with me other than saying that I need to keep on paying the monthly training fee for one year with whatever services that I receive from them. I really think that they should cancel my training contract immediately since the sales process was a scam and they could not deliver the acceptable training services.

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Avoid LA ** at all costs!!!!!

By Kevin12345 - 09/21/2010

LAKE GROVE, NEW YORK -- I joined LA ** a year ago because I was living at school in Stony Brook and there weren't any other gyms around that town that I knew of, so I pretty much had no choice, seeing as how the gyms Stony Brook provides its students with are overcrowded and under-equipped. I wish I would have known that there was both a Bally's and a World Gym very close by before I joined LAS. I very deeply regret the day I stepped foot into that gym.

I walked in. Told the lady at the desk I was interested in a membership and I wanted to know the price. She snubbed me about the price but started acting overly kind to me and gave me the 'grand tour.' (They work on commission.) The tour lasted about ten minutes and all I wanted to know was the price but she wouldn't tell me until the tour was over. This whole time all the employees were giving me that fake-nice, no-pressure-but-there-really-is-pressure attitude that you would expect from a typical low-life used car salesman, which I did not appreciate.

The lady told me that it was $50 a month with a $150 initiation fee (which is ridiculous), and it took ten minutes of me negotiating and her not budging for her to finally mention that the initiation fee would be $50 less if I only wanted to use that LAS and no other LA **. But otherwise the prices were not negotiable. Also the first and last months' payments were due at signing and you have to give them a credit card number.

When you cancel, you have to tell them at least 10 days before your next payment is due THEN the $50 you spent on your last month is applied for one final month of membership. So, if you realize 9 days before your next payment what a ** LAS is, you still will be charged $50 for another month, then the $50 you already spent will be applied towards your final month. So, you could be stuck for up to 69 days at a gym you no longer want to work out at.

This is because the people that run LAS are so grimy that they need to ensure their incoming cash flow even if their members don't want to work out at LAS anymore. So, the prices were a lot higher than I expected but I had no choice, so I joined.

The first thing I didn't like about LAS was the music they played on the radio, which you had to listen to unless you wanted to work out with headphones or earbuds - which to me are annoying and get in the way. It was nonstop Top 40 Miley Cyrus Taylor Swift Lady Gaga Kanye West **. They never played any good music and to top it all off, in between every song, they played a cheesy-ass LA ** commercial - which got real annoying, real fast.

The next thing about LAS that pissed me off was when they tried to get me to hire one of their "personal trainers." As a new member, every time I walked into the gym, they would bug me to schedule their stupid "complimentary fitness assessment" which I knew was just a lame attempt at selling me a personal trainer. So, to shut them up I finally did it. They made me fill out a ** stupid sheet about my goals then walked me through a dumb** 30 minute circuit workout, which sucked. Then they sat me down - and after I kept telling them I couldn't afford and didn't need nor want a personal trainer - they say "Alright let's do this: $80 a month and you get 2 sessions each month."

I couldn't even believe they would make an offer like that, so needless to say I turned it down. Then they say "Okay, how about this - $40 dollars a month for one session a month" I'm not kidding. So, that was a complete ** waste of my time.

But for me the last straw was when they clipped my lock and threw it out. I would leave my lock on their lockers overnight, because there was an abundance of lockers and I saw that plenty of other people did it. (I would sometimes work out at night and leave right before they closed.) So one day I show up, walk to my locker and someone else's lock is on it. I go up to the front desk and ask them what happened and they told me they clipped it. By the way, nowhere in the locker room or in the gym were there any signs posted saying that you couldn't leave locks overnight, nor was there any fair warning that they clip locks.

So, I wanted to talk to the manager about this because it had really pissed me off. Every day I went to that gym, I would walk in, ask to speak to the manager, they would tell me he was out to lunch. I would work out for an hour, on my way out I'd ask again to speak to him and they would tell me he was still stuffing his fat face (not in those words, obviously).

After 2 weeks, I finally tracked this guy down. His name is ** and ironically this gym manager is a bald, fat sack of crap. Anyway I told him what had happened and asked if the gym could reimburse me considering I had to go out and buy a new lock and I missed a workout (no gym clothes or lock) because the gym I pay so much money to be a member of unfairly clipped my lock.

After a long argument he refused to just give me $5 for the lock I had to replace. ** was trying to get me to leave so he could go on with his busy schedule of eating everything in sight, so he was like "Okay let's move on and let this be a learning experience." And I said "Okay well you can learn from it too. You should put signs up in the locker room warning people that you clip locks left overnight, so this same situation doesn't happen to another paying customer." And ** refused to even do that.

So I cancelled my membership. But I couldn't simply tell them “I want to stop coming to the gym, so stop charging me.” I had to postmark a cancellation request to their headquarters in California. Then I was still being charged money to belong to a gym that I hated with every fiber of my being for another 2 months. And now they keep pestering me with emails every week trying to get me to rejoin, which is just another reason I regret joining.

I just want to mention one more thing. LA ** does not have the atmosphere of a real gym. The company likes to refer to itself as a "fitness studio." They have the atmosphere of a "fitness studio." So if you are the kind of douchebag that would prefer to work out in a "fitness studio" rather than a gym or weight room, and you listen to ** music and don't mind signing a contract that milks every last penny out of you, then LA ** is for you. But if you are a normal person just looking for a good place to work out at a fair price, then please STAY THE ** AWAY FROM LA **!!!!!

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Rude And Harsh Sales Tactics

By AT80 - 06/24/2009

RIVERSIDE, CALIFORNIA -- After going through the disrespectful treatment at 24 Hour Fitness I decided to go gym shopping. I call La Fitness in Riverside Ca, and speak with a manager. I noticed his attitude was a little pushy, but I'm no push over so he back down after he noticed I was not playing his game. I go to the gym and receive a tour, the managers are being nice and asking why I am leaving 24 Hour Fitness. Then I sit down, and speak to the managers. They started their pressure tactics but soon backed off.

I told them I was leaving and would be back when I'm ready to join. I go back later that evening to learn about the price, and inquire info on Personal training (which they did not want to give me info over the phone or in person during the tour.) After siting down with the manager I spoke to over the phone, the hard sell began. I already knew that I wanted to join but I was not one up for being harassed. He started with a tone of not answering my questions, about the gym, and was quick to get me to sign. So I resisted and made him explain to me every detail in the contract.

His manager noticed that I was not easily sold, so he came over and started his routine. Still I resisted until I understood the contract and the cancellation policies. One last thing I wanted was info on the personal training. These guys refused to give me info on it until I was a member which in some ways makes sense but I was not happy about it. But I feel they were holding back so that I did not leave once I found out how ridiculous the pricing would be. So I sign the contract, but I failed to negotiate the initial fee of $125 which was supposed to be the special. I realized that was my fault.

After I sign this guy comes over to explain, the personal training. Right away he has this very arrogant attitude. He says "so I hear you want personal training" while shaking his head, with a distance gaze that creeped me out. I said "yes" and he just stared at me for about 5-7 seconds then asked 2 other questions and I received the same creepy response from this guy. Then he proceeds to tell me how the training works and the cost. Then tells me he can sign me up now. I tell him, "knowing the price would be nice." He tells me the price and I tell him how I will not pay another initial fee, for the same gym I just joined for personal training.

I negotiated this time, the personal training price was just insane with the $150 initial fee. I tell him that "I cannot afford this" and his attitude goes from, rude to just stupid. He told me he would write out a budget for me so that I could afford the lessons, went on to tell me that my current work out was lame and would not get me anywhere but lame and plain. I returned fire at him and let him know that I am not the person to speak to in that manner. He goes back to trying to sell me then I look him in the eye and tell him I'm not buying his training and got up and walked out.

For all of the nice fancy equipment these guys do not do well in treating their customers. I have decided to work out at another nearby La Fitness because I do not want to encounter these guys. Which the staff at the location in Moreno Valley are much more laid back, but I would still be weary. While being sold lessons I saw a couple get up and walk out on these guys because of their tactics. I was traveling for work while in Tacoma Wa, at a local La Fitness and I saw how this salesman/trainer was harassing this elderly lady into buying lessons. I felt sorry for her and almost intervened.

I will do whatever I can to stop people from encountering these guys, if you need a trainer go to meetup.com and looking fitness of personal trainer, I'm sure you will have a lot to choose from. Also if you do encounter these guys and their hard sell arrogant tactics, just remember they tend to shut up when you walk away:)

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LA Fitness: Worst Customer Service Experience By Far

By AFTwinCities - 06/11/2009

EDINA, MINNESOTA -- My husband and I joined the newly-opened LA Fitness in our neighborhood last fall. We were eager to take advantage of our insurance company's fitness center discount and to keep up our workouts over the winter, and were excited about LA Fitness' reasonable rates. I suppose I should have known that I'd get what I paid for.

The first sign of trouble came when we noticed my husband was not receiving his fitness center discounts. I happen to work for the insurance company so I know our side of the process and knew that the correction needed to be made by LA Fitness. I first inquired at our local club and was informed that I would need to call corporate. I called corporate and - after literally waiting on hold for 45 minutes to speak with a representative - was told that there was nothing they could do and to contact my insurance company.

I explained that I worked for the insurance company and knew the problem was on their side - rather than finding ways to assist, the representative proceeded to argue with me and gave me no answers. I went back and forth with the insurance company and LA Fitness. The 3-5 times I had to call LA Fitness back resulted in the same rude, unhelpful, argumentative experience. Even the customer service manager argued with me rather than trying to find a solution. Six months later I was finally able to receive the discount appropriately through the heroic customer service efforts of my insurance company and through no help whatsoever of LA Fitness.

Now that summer has arrived my husband and I went in to cancel our membership so we could spend time outdoors exercising. We intentionally went in on June 1 knowing that our membership started on the first of the month. When we requested cancellation we were informed that we would need to provide LA Fitness with 20 days' advanced notice, plus we would have an extra month (which we paid for in our 2 months' advance payment during enrollment) on top of that - so our cancellation would not be in effect until August 1.

My expectation when we paid the 2 months' advance fees was that the extra month would be refunded upon cancellation. When I want to cancel, I want to cancel now - not in two months' time. The manager on duty only argued with me and refused to entertain even the idea of providing a refund. She instructed me to call corporate - but after my original experiences with corporate's complete lack of customer service and entire apathy toward their customers I have no desire to repeat that experience.

Once this horrific experience ends on August 1 I will never again set foot in LA Fitness - you couldn't pay me enough to deal with this company. I am telling everyone I know how completely horrible my entire experience has been with LA Fitness and wholeheartedly discouraging anyone from interacting with them. Their rates are low for a reason - you don't get any service whatsoever once they have your money & membership commitment... and in fact, they proceed to waste your time with arguments and excuses whenever you have a service-related problem.
My recommendation to anyone who will listen? Avoid LA Fitness at all costs.

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Bad Customer Service

- 07/10/2012

Rating: 1/51

My local club got bought out and I went in to get transferred over, I was treated like a outcast by the front desk staff. When I asked to speak to the manager, a man named ** came out and was very rude. He first said he could help me and said I had to take my complaints up with my former club that was going out of business. When I asked to speak to his superior, he refused and said he only reports to the owner and his contact information is not available. LA Fitness need to hire more professional, competent, and courtesy people to provide an inviting and friendly first impression for new and confused customers.

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Do not join, dishonest employees, does not keep their words

By Jack - 07/15/2011

ALHAMBRA, CALIFORNIA -- OK here is a story of LA Fitness: I called the Alhambra Branch located at 412 East Main Street, Alhambra and I spoke to a person name **. He offer me the membership at $799 for 2 years and then 99 for renew plan. I told him "I will think about it." I called another branch at Pasadena at 201 S. Lake Avenue Pasadena, CA 91101 the person who I contacted with is name **, he give me the same deal, except I only have to pay 600. So naturally I took my time off work, drive to Pasadena (traffic was hell, took me over 1 hour drive, then I have to pay for the street parking as well) and sign up with **.

Later that day ** called me and found out that I sign up with another branch, then he proceed to sabotage my deal on purpose (which I didn't give him any permission to look into my membership plan.) He called his superior and then later I got a phone call from some guy from the Alhambra branch told me the deal I have is canceled. He told me the deal I got was illegal. Then I asked him "How was that not legal? I called your Gym phone number, speak to your employee, got the quote from him, I drove down there to sign up for membership, at what point the action I did was illegal?"

He didn't answer that. Then I asked him, "What is your name, what is your employee number, how can I know you are legal and what you tell me is legal?" He give me his name as ** with no last name and did not give me his employee number, then hang up on my face promptly which I did not finish talking with him. I called back on the phone. He called me, and there is no one name "**" work there, basically he flat lied to my face. I now hold in my hand a legit contract of my membership which I obtained through the normal legal process, which I took time off my work, and just by 1 phone call from them few hours later, it is now a worthless piece of paper.

DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THIS GYM. They deliberately sabotage their own customers, and fight among themselves. They do not keep their word. They are not honest to themselves. They are by far NOT honest to their own customers. What you are dealing is the worst of the worse of corporate American, avoid LA Fitness at all cost. Never join them if you can. And feel free to copy this message into other forums or message board if you want. My email is **. I can provide you with all evidence what I talked about today. If you need a copy of the contract or my phone record, just email me. I want to expose to the world the true nature of LA fitness.

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Crap

By onrequest - 10/13/2010

WOODBRIDGE, VIRGINIA -- My wife and I joined earlier this year. After the pushy salespeople were finished the 'manager' comes up who looks like he inhales steroids but they only work on his upper body. He tells us he will train us for free just to 'see the results' but we need to sign up for training. He also tells us we're set up for 1 hour trainings. Well, after 2 months of no one doing an assessment we finally get one done (after losing weight on our own--no personal training). This guy sends these young kids to train us and does nothing but eat and walk around.

Later when we finally get a trainer we like, we find out that we're locked in with the training sessions for a year and we only had 1/2 hour sessions. By now this 'manager' is gone but they just transferred him to another one of their gyms to rip someone else off.

We spoke to the 'owner' who seemed sympathetic however we get a letter from him that says the only way out of the contract is to payout the personal training... even if we cancelled the membership. Now today they took out the membership fee and said 'You didn't mail the letter to the corporate office'.

No one told us we had to go in, cancel and THEN send a letter by snail mail to corporate to get the membership cancelled. Please understand they got paid for an extra month because we didn't cancel within their 30 day time period last month and now paid again this month. Also, you can cancel the membership but can't cancel the personal training.... meaning you can't go in the gym and use up the personal training... What kind of sense does that make?

Avoid this gym at ALL costs! Although this 'manager' has left, they are still only after your money and once you sign a contract you are SCREWED. Find another gym ANYWHERE but DO NOT go there and fall into the trap that is LA Fitness!

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LA Fitness in Denton, Texas

By JSAF - 03/02/2010

1350 SOUTH LOOP 288, DENTON, TEXAS -- My wife purchased me a membership and personal training sessions at LA Fitness in Denton, Texas on December 7th, 2010. At that time she was charged as follows: *$146.12 for initial membership fee, *$222 for personal training set up and first month. She was then billed for these additional sums: *$32.46 on January 5th, 2010 for another month of membership fees.

On January 14th, 2010 I visited the LA Fitness in Denton for my first trainer session which was to include a fitness assessment. When I arrived for my appointment the trainer was sleeping. I woke him up at his desk and he took me over to begin working out on weights. I asked him for a tour since I had never been to the facility. He took me on a tour. He did not know the locker policy for the facility. He then took me over to do some free weights. I told him that I should receive a fitness assessment first. He said he could not do the assessment, and that the proper trainer to do it was not there. He then said I needed a trainer booklet, but could not locate one to give me.

He said, "That's corporate fitness for you. Corporate fitness sucks." I asked what he meant by that. He stated, "LA Fitness fired me from the Lewisville store. The Denton facility was opened too early and we don't even have a scale to weigh you on for the assessment, or the booklet you are supposed to receive." He then was given permission to give me the fitness assessment on my next visit, even though he stated that he was not officially allowed to administer assessments. When I arrived home, I contacted his supervisors and spoke with them about getting a refund as I did not feel comfortable patronizing LA Fitness in Denton after this experience.

My wife spoke with '**' and '**,' both fitness trainer supervisors. Both indicated that they would not refund any money. *$172.00 on January 19th, 2010 we were billed for another month of trainer fees. *$32.46 on March 1st, 2010 when my wife received threatening phone calls requesting that we pay for another month of membership or we would be have 'credit problems.' My wife stated, again, that she wanted the membership cancelled and our money refunded. LA Fitness refuses to refund ANY moneys.

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Think Before Complaining

By slowlybutsurely77 - 04/22/2009

ATLANTA, GEORGIA -- I have been a member of LA Fitness in Atlanta for several months now and am truly surprised at all the bad reviews I see especially about Pro Results. Granted there are going to be unscrupulous fitness trainers and salesmen wherever you go but no offense I have to wonder about some of the circumstances regarding cancellation and was it really that hard. I was also approached about the personal training by the young manager of Pro Results who was somewhat pushy.

But even I have to admit he knew what he was talking about. And was very friendly and professional and even offered a trial basis making it very easy for me to cancel as at the time I really didn't think personal training would benefit me and didn't feel a male trainer would understand where I was coming from.

When I cancelled I got my money back no problems and was not charged any further. All my experiences with LA Fitness ProResults the staff have been nothing but friendly and professional with the LA Fitness manager never failing to ask me how I'm doing and inquiring on my results. I recently met with a female member of ProResults who did not attempt to pressure me into anything was very happy to address my concerns, including my phobia of weight training because I don't want to bulk up.

She showed me the machines I needed to use, outlined a plan, and even said that I may not need personal training if I knew I could stick to it and totally understood my monetary concerns and advised me to think about it. Just to be sure due to all the horror stories I read, I checked my account and saw no other charge than my usual membership fee. LA Fitness or ProResults has not been dishonest, rude or unprofessional with me at any time. They adhere to any of the terms they put in writing on the contract (I still got my copy) and have been very helpful with my long term goals. So in the event heaven forbid I do cancel it will be because of me and not them.

P.S. I am NOT an employee of either entity. BTW I have been a member since 24 Jan 2009.

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Management / Membership Cancellation

By Amy Joe - 05/08/2007

SORRENTO VALLEY/MIRA MESA, CALIFORNIA -- About a month ago I became aware that I had become a victim of fraud. I have this credit card that I rarely use so I don't check my statement periodically. When I did check it, I saw a continuing charge for a membership to LA fitness. I had never set foot at that gym and decided to go find out why they were charging my credit card. I went in and asked to speak to someone regarding this matter; they referred me to ** whom I believe is one of the managers (please read LA FitnessUX's review about **).

When I talked to him he explained to me that I had opened a membership with them a few months back. After I explained to him that I had never been to that gym before and that I wasn't interested in joining a gym, he proceeded to say that he actually remembered the person who had signed me up. Turns out that one of my "friends" took my credit card signed himself and me up at the same time (signed me up so he could use my card) and a month later had cancelled my membership and had kept his active. I got charged an initiation fee, a month of my membership and 4 months of his membership, this totaled close to $300.

My former friend using my credit card without my permission is beside the point in this issue, what irritated me the most is when I asked ** how it was possible for someone to come in and use a credit card without being asked for an ID or a signature check?? All he said was that they just swipe the card I'm sure they do! All he cared about was getting a membership, didn't bother to check if the credit card belonged to the person using it!! He said he would speak to his boss and get back to me the next day. When he didn't get back to me I showed up at the gym only to find out he wasn't scheduled to work that day!

I went back the following week, I asked for him, he came out and as soon as he saw me and without acknowledging me turned around to get his boss, **, operations manager. She was rude and unfriendly (just like **) and after explaining the situation to her she said she would email her boss about it. When she heard I was asking for a full refund she seemed surprised and said she would get back to me in 3 days.

When she didn't, I called in and when I couldn't get a hold of her I went back to the gym. There, she told me that my request had been denied!! The explanation: it had been a few months since it had been opened (so what! The dilemma was that it hadn't been ME that opened it!!) and that there was record of me swiping my membership card to get into the gym when I didn't even have one!!!

I asked for further review since obviously I had never approved any transaction, signed any papers nor received any membership pass! She then told me that my "boyfriend" must have used it--my boyfriend??? Nice job making up stories about me! All this time I had been nothing but nice and understanding about the situation but when I saw how rude they were about it I started getting frustrated. I told her that the person who used my card without my consent was not my boyfriend and stressed that the matter did not involve for how long or who had used it but the fact that it was approved by them without my consent!

Finally she said I would get a call from corporate the following week and that I could talk to them about it. When I asked for her name she gave me her first name only, when I asked for her last name she told me that was private information!! Since when is a manager's last name private information?!??!?! I must keep stressing that I had been sooooo nice about this whole situation, I had waited patiently to get the matter resolved and in return all I got was horrible customer service by two separate managers! Keeping my calm and after thanking her for her "help" I left the gym.

I reeeeally lost my temper after I called her a few minutes later to get the name of the person who had signed "me" up in case it came in handy when corporate called me, ** gave me the information and inappropriately asked me if the person that used my card was really my boyfriend!!!! Talk about asking private information!!! To me, this felt that they were trying to justify the usage of my credit card, that I gave permission for my "boyfriend" to sign me up so they would not get in trouble. I got furious and responded to her that "that was private information"! At that point I couldn't care less what they thought.

The following week I did get a call from corporate and a really nice guy took care of the situation. He fully refunded me without any hassle and said that the credit would show up in 5-7 business days. Well it's been a little over that and still no credit, but at least he was polite. I have no intentions on filing a formal complaint about ** since (despite everything) she did help in getting me help from corporate but as far as customer service goes I completely agree with LA FitnessUX's complaint about **. It was funny to find out someone else mentions him on this site and now I am adding ** who will remain last name-less.